Altadena Town Council Election Sees Big Increase in Voter Participation

After a low turnout in 2012 that saw a total of 71 official votes cast, interest and participation in the Altadena Town Council Election took a big leap forward on Saturday, with 543 votes cast.

Click here to see the results of the 2013 election.

"Oh my goodness, there's been a tremendous turnout," said poll volunteer and Town Council Member Reggie Wilkins. "I would imagine that just this table alone gathered more votes than all the sites did for the last election. I’d be willing to bet on that. The turnout has just been incredible."

Wilkins, who was not up for re-election this year, was working the polling station at the Altadena Library, which collected a total of 106 votes, according to results emailed to Patch by Altadena Town Council Election Committee Chair Eric Pierce.

Before the low turnout in 2012, 343 people voted in 2011, more than 700 people voted in 2010 and 2008, and almost 500 turned out in 2009.

Over at the polling station at Loma Alta Park, 134 voted, more than any of the eight stations. Poll volunteer Khadija Anderson, who has lived in Altadena for four years, said this was the first time she has volunteered for the election.

"It was the Walmart issue for me," she said when asked why she chose to help. "I was very disappointed in my lack of ability to communicate with my council people. They just had such closed minds about differing opinions that I said, I’m going to vote for somebody next time."

Evagelina Quintanar, a volunteer at the Altadena Library station, also said a lot of voters mentioned the controversial new Walmart on Lincoln Avenue as a big reason they were voting. 

"Walmart, some people are not really happy about it. Walmart really stood out as [an important issue]," Quintanar said.

Wilkins credited increased outreach efforts, led by Pierce, as a possible reason for the big turnout.

"We did a lot of publicity, social media, Patch blog, Altadenablog. We did banners, signs, and Eric, as a leader of the committee, he organized us," Wilkins said. "People are going to wonder, 'What’s different this time?' It’s Eric’s work, he did a lot to organize us and make this a real election." 

Pierce in turn said he thought the increase in voting was a result of more candidates. Six candidates were on the ballot running for eight seats in 2012, while 13 candidates were on this year's ballot running for seven seats.

Pierce said the council put a lot more focus and outreach into getting candidates to run.

"We focused on the candidate process, where as in years past the focus was more on the actual election," Pierce said. "The candidates generated the excitement."